Detection of nanoparticles in Dutch surface waters

Ruud J B Peters; Greet van Bemmel; Nino B L Milani; Gerco C T den Hertog; Anna K Undas; Martijn van der Lee; Hans Bouwmeester

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.238

Detection of nanoparticles in Dutch surface waters

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Apr 15:621:210-218. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.238. Epub 2017 Nov 24.

Authors

Ruud J B Peters¹, Greet van Bemmel², Nino B L Milani², Gerco C T den Hertog², Anna K Undas², Martijn van der Lee², Hans Bouwmeester²

Affiliations

¹ RIKILT Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: ruudj.peters@wur.nl.
² RIKILT Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

PMID: 29179077
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.238

Abstract

Nano-enabled consumer products are a likely source of nanoparticles in the environment and a number of studies have shown the release of nanoparticles from commercial products. Predicted environmental concentrations have been calculated but there is a need for real measurement data to validate these calculations. However, the detection of engineered nanoparticles in environmental matrices is challenging because of the low predicted environmental concentrations which may be in the ng/L range. In this study nanosized Ag, CeO₂ and TiO₂ have been measured in multiple surface water samples collected along the rivers Meuse and IJssel in the Netherlands using single-particle ICP-MS as measurement technique. Validation of the analytical method showed its capability to quantitatively determine nanoparticles at low concentrations. Concentration mass detection limits for Ag, CeO₂ and TiO₂ were 0.1ng/L, 0.05ng/L and 10ng/L respectively. Size detection limits for Ag, CeO₂ and TiO₂ were 14, 10 and 100nm. The results of the study confirm the presence of nano-sized Ag and CeO₂ particles and micro-sized TiO₂ particles in these surface waters. n-Ag was present in all samples in concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 2.5ng/L with an average concentration of 0.8ng/L and an average particle size of 15nm. n-CeO₂ was found in all samples with concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 5.2ng/L with an average concentration of 2.7ng/L and an average particle size of 19nm. Finally, μ-TiO₂ was found in all samples with a concentration ranging from 0.2 to 8.1μg/L with an average concentration of 3.1μg/L and an average particle size of 300nm. The particle sizes that were found are comparable with the particle sizes that are used in nanomaterial applications and consumer products. The nanoparticle concentrations confirm the predicted environmental concentrations values in water for all three nanoparticles.

Keywords: Cerium dioxide; Environmental; Nanoparticles; Silver; Single-particle ICP-MS; Titanium dioxide.